Finance

With day one of my internship in the bag, here are some tried and true tips: Give yourself time Like lots of time. You can’t risk making a bad impression on the first day. I live in constant fear of being tardy. But being chronically early is its own kind of …

How to find the best bargains online Get shop-savvy with these top tips for getting the best value online. Before you do anything, do your research. If you feel you need to see and touch a specific product before you buy it, go and find it in a store. Choose …

The Child Trust Fund (CTF) celebrated its second birthday this year, but government figures show that nearly a quarter of CTF vouchers issued are not being invested by parents within the 12-month timeframe. Collectively, this means that children are losing out on a potential Â£7.5 million worth of investment growth. …

Nobody likes to think of the inevitable, which is probably why so many people have not made a last will and testament. Making a will is probably one of the most important things you could ever do for your family or co-habiting partner. Almost half of our retired population die …

Do you frequently tuck unopened bank statements away in a drawer? Do you refuse to get a receipt from the ATM when withdrawing cash because you don’t want to see the cold reality of what your bank balance really is? Or are you scared to look at your credit card …

As we find our way out of the other side of a major recession, things may look bad. Our house prices have dropped, shares rates have fallen and finding a new job remains a tall order for those of us made redundant. But as a wise person once said, every …

Your child isn’t a baby any longer; he or she has packed a pot noodle and a selection of too large hoodies in anticipation of their very first forays in to the Big Wide World. AKA University. But just because they’re moving in to halls doesn’t mean they won’t need …

Although research shows that, surprisingly, most people are actually quite happy in their jobs that doesn’t mean that given half a chance many of us wouldn’t take an early retirement. But leaving work before ‘official’ retirement age isn’t as simple as packing up your desk and heading for the golf …

The average wedding now costs the bride, groom and their families a stonking Â£25,000 – that’s more than many of us earn in a year. But declaring your love needn’t mean financial ruin if you use a little invention and imagination. The venue A fairy-tale castle or Jane Austen style …

There’s nothing in the world more joyful than the news that you’re expecting the pitter patter of tiny feet. But the fact that bringing up a child to the age of 21 now costs Â£194,000 – a rise of Â£14,000 in just three years – is enough to take the …

Research released today by charity consortium Remember A Charity reveals that the word ‘legacy’ is putting off millions of people in the UK from leaving a gift to charity in their will. The research shows that the word is largely misunderstood and has strong negative connotations of wealth, mortality, wills …

There are lots of excuses to not start putting money in a pension: you’ve got years to do it in, you’ll probably downsize and make a profit from property, the lottery has to turn your way soon… Sadly there’s no valid reason, besides already having a fortune tucked away somewhere …

The price of holidaying abroad hasn’t been the only reason thousands of us have chosen to sit tight at home instead of taking our usual Med break this year. An extraordinarily weak pound has meant that even the essentials can cost holidaymakers dearly whilst abroad. Now that the Bank of …

Petrol prices have been up and down like a yo-yo over the past few years; just as we thought things were starting to look a little brighter at the petrol pump, prices started to creep back up. But there are ways and means to save on petrol by simply doing …

With a growth from £1.6bn to £7bn in the ten years between 1997 and 2007, ethical investments are on a steep rise. And with an increasing interest in climate change and the world around us it’s really no surprise that everyone from City bigwigs to those with just a few …